Heart of Gold
by RosalineC
Summary: "I am not having a Firefly marathon with you." When Castle and Beckett get a day off a day in front of the television suddenly turns into the battle of the sci-fi shows.


**Disclaimer: Do you think Marlowe has to put on a winter coat and boots to walk outside? Yeah, didn't think so...**

**A/N: Uh... all I can say is this is what happens when you spend an entire weekend living on junk food while watching all of Firefly in a blanket fort with your gramma...**

**Sort of spoilers for "Final Frontier" and major spoilers for all of _Firefly_.**

* * *

"Come on Beckett, you made me watch twelve horrific episodes of _Nebula 9_," Castle whined.

Kate turned to her partner and stared him down, refusing to crack. "I am not watching a _Firefly_ marathon with you."

It was true, Castle had watched every episode of _Nebula 9_ with her and he hadn't made fun of it _too_ much but he had been rather whiny about the whole thing. Besides, _Firefly_? Please! And he made fun of her show for being cancelled after one season and for being full of melodrama.

"Please?" he whined. She rolled her eyes at her lovable man-child but refused to give in. When he realized pleading was getting him nowhere he switched to a difficult strategy. "You're just afraid that if you watch _Firefly_ you'll realize that Captain Malcom Reynolds could kick your Captain Max Renard's ass any day."

"Oh that is so not true!" she argued, "Captain Max is a respected Captain of a real space ship; your Mal is just some space cowboy!"

"Oh you did not just say that! Real space ship? Please! Clearly Serenity is the nicest ship in the sky. As for Mal, at least his first mate Zoe is a badass unlike your flaky Lieutenant Chloe."

Beckett grabbed the pillow from off the couch and whipped it at Castle. "This means war! Put on your terrible show and I will prove mine is far better."

"Oh it's on!" Castle pulled out his _Firefly_ DVD set and put on the first episode.

He was watching her more than he was watching the show. The opening battle sequence had her captivated and she couldn't help but let out a laugh when mal said they were too pretty to die.

"Enjoying it aren't you?" he teased.

She was but she wasn't about to let him know that. "I wouldn't say that I'm enjoying," she lied, "but he is right, they are so very pretty."

He appreciated the reference but he had to poke even more fun. "I'm prettier though right? I am ruggedly handsome after all."

"I don't know Castle," she joked, "Mal might be even more ruggedly handsome than you are."

"Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal," he mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Okay then," she said before they settled back into silence so they could watch the show.

Episode after episode was watched as they both got more and more into it. Castle even caught Kate jumping at the reavers at one point. He debated teasing her about the fact that she was so clearly enjoying this but he was afraid he'd break the spell and she would start moping like he did. Yeah, he'd tease her afterwards.

Castle watched as she laughed at the trouble Mal and Jayne got into, smiled whenever Zoe or Inara saved the day, groaned whenever Wash or Simon put their foot in their mouths, and fell in love with Kaylee. She thought she was hiding her fascination with this silly little show but with laughter escaping from her lips and the amusement in her eyes, she knew Castle had to be on to her by now.

It wasn't until the end of the last episode hours (and many bags of candy) later that Kate cracked and finally commented. "Seriously? That's how Whedon ended it? Where is the closure? Seriously, Simon and Kaylee are going to dance around each other for fourteen episodes and then not together!" Castle opened his mouth to say something but Kate held up a "don't you dare" finger and continued, "And don't even get me started on Mal and Inara! Clearly they're in love with each other but do they get together? No! It was bad enough with the whole YoSafBridge or whatever the hell her name was thing but then he slept with Nandi and now Inara is leaving the ship!"

Castle just sat there, clearly amused, as his girlfriend rambled on about all the characters and the plot. When he couldn't keep his gloating to himself any longer, he finally said, "Glad to see you enjoyed it."

"I never said that I enjoyed it Castle," she huffed. Damn Whedon and his damn post-apocalyptic western that was far better than it should have been.

"Oh really?" he asked, still highly amused," What if I told you there was a follow up movie?"

"Put on the damn movie Castle!"

"I thought you didn't enjoy it," he mocked, sticking his tongue out like a child.

"I'm lost, I'm angry, and I'm armed," she quoted, "now put on the damn movie!"

"Shiny," he added, winking while going to go get the movie. Oh she was _so_ never going to hear the end of this.

* * *

**Any shiny reviews for your Captain who aims to misbehave?** (Sorry I had to)


End file.
